Archive for June, 2007
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
Art at the Met in New York City
Hello and welcome back to the Art Collectors’ guild video Blog. Play the video above, or join me via text and photos:
We are in NYC at the Metropolitan Museum of Art located at 5th Ave and 82 St.
The Met is a repository of great art of the world’s cultures throughout the millennia.
This time we will be visiting the newly reopened Greek and Roman Galleries.
They are located in the former site of the Met’s dining room which has now been transformed into this skylighted and breathtaking Greco Roman courtyard.
There are marble and bronze sculptures glorifying the human form whether portrayed as humans or as dieties.
Let’s look at one of these exquisite marbles.
Here is Dionysus, the Greek God of wine, intoxication and pleasure.
This Roman statue was created about 2000 years ago and was based upon an earlier Greek work from the 4th century BCE. There was some restoration to the arms and legs in the 18th century by the Italian sculptor, Pacetti.
Dionysus is represented as a young god and we recognize him because he has a wreath of grapes leaves in his hair…….and wears mantle of panther skins over his a kyton. A kyton was a short Greek robe.
When you look at from behind, you can see the claws of the panther hanging behind him.
And the high sandals he wears are topped with animal heads on their flaps.
He is standing beside a small, young maiden, placed atop a rock to give her more height, she is meant to personify Hope.
But, she was really a necessary device for the sculptor. Put there to support the enormous weight of his outstretched arm.
And as this was Dionysus the God of intoxication, he probably would have been holding a cup of wine in his raised hand.
Look how the sculptor defines the various layers and lines of their clothing. You can see the see the forms and weight of the bodies beneath these draperies. Look at the various layers of fabric moving between vertical pleats and a strong counterpoint diagonal of the mantle, it moves our eyes to the horizontal cloth which drapes over the maiden’s hair.
Look at the genius of the artist. We are not looking at ephemeral fabrics but solid marble, one nature’s of the strongest stones.
This beautiful Roman sculpture of Dionysus is only one of the many exquisite works in The Metropolitan Museums Greek and Roman collection. 
And when we look at these collections at night, with the illuminations they take on an almost magical feeling and transport us back over 2000 years.
We’ll have to come back and see some others on future visits.
So, I invite you join us again for the next Art Collectors Guild video blog at artcollectorsguild.com
And remember, Art is Forever.
Thank you